The examples I chose indicated this is a problem all over the United States. Additionally, the examples proved there are violations all over Texas.

I hope the readers were also impressed that the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division is being aggressive in responding to overtime pay violations.

One other message that should be clear is that these violations are being done by large and small employers.

The money penalties to the employers — large or small — are immediate and extensive.

I visited with a small employer I know who had been visited by the Wage and Hour Division for a pay violation within the past year or so. He told me that when the Wage and Hour Division finished its investigation and calculated the back pay sum due employees, the division demanded the $ 50,000 check immediately — no negotiation, no installment plan.

I have conducted human resource management audits for organizations for more than a decade and a half. It unfortunately has been too typical that I findwage and hour violations that need remedying.

Apparently, the basics of the overtime law are still not understood well. Therefore, I thought it would be good to review them again.

Who is covered by the wage and hour law and overtime mandates?

"The Act applies to enterprises with employees who engage in interstate commerce, produce goods for interstate commerce, or handle, sell or work on goods or materials that have been moved in or produced for interstate commerce."

There are two applications of this principle: enterprise coverage and individual coverage.

"Employees who work for certain businesses or organizations (or enterprises) are covered by the FLSA. These enterprises, which must have at least two employees, are:

(1) Those that have an annual dollar volume of sales or business done of at least $500,000.

(2) Hospitals, businesses providing medical or nursing care for residents, schools and preschools, and government agencies."

Individual coverage applies when the business does not meet the enterprise coverage test, but certain employees' activity might apply.

"Even when there is no enterprise coverage, employees are protected by the FLSA if their work regularly involves them in commerce between States.

"The FLSA covers individual workers who are engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.

"Examples of employees who are involved in interstate commerce include those who: produce goods (such as a worker assembling components in a factory or a secretary typing letters in an office) that will be sent out of state, regularly make telephone calls to persons located in other States, handle records of interstate transactions, travel to other States on their jobs, and do janitorial work in buildings where goods are produced for shipment outside the state.

"Also, domestic service workers (such as housekeepers, full-time babysitters and cooks) are normally covered by the law."